Apparatus for making pulp board



Get. 11, 1932. H. c. HARVEY 1,381,548

APPARATUS FOR MAKING PULP BOARD Filed Aug. 26, 1931 WITNESS BY WM A TTO/(NE VS Patented Oct. 11, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE HAROLD C. HARVEY, OF TRENTON, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO THE AGASOTE MILL- BOARID COMPANY, OF TRENTON, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY APPARATUS FOR MAKING PULP BOARD Application filed August 26, 1931. Serial No. 559,361.

The present invention relates to a machine for manufacturing pulp board and similar articles. The particular object of my invention is to provide an apparatus from which the molded pulp board or similar article can readily be removed with as little disturbance as possible to the soft article. More-particularly, my apparatus is an improvement upon the type of apparatus disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 1,536,163 issued May 5, 1925 upon an invention of D. M. Sutherland, Jr.

' Sheets of. paper pulp, wood pulp, or the like, and particularly thick, large sheets of this material, are made by placing a suitable quantity of pulp into a mold consisting of a bottom, a top and a frame constituting a deckle. Afterthe pulp has been placed into the mold the top of the mold is pressed upon the surface of the pulp to expel the bulk of the liquid therefrom, such liquid passing through the bottom of the mold and possibly also through the top of the mold, such bottom, or bottom and top, being suitably coni structed to permit passage'of the liquid, while preventing passage of the fibres. Molds such as referred to are shown in p)atent to Sutherlandet al. No. 971,936 dated ctob'er 4, 1910, in patent to Sutherland N0. 1,272,566dated July 16, 1918 and in patent to 'SutherlandNo. 1,536,163.

The softsheet' of pulp must then be removed fro'mthe mold in order to be carried to the drier-and'this may be done in various In the structure disclosed in the prse'nti I g veyb' is rov'ided between the deckle and' the rnol' bottr'n, the pulp sheet is formed" such conveyor, and after completion. Z i 3 h nVey te de kle bee" ra ed 'suflici'ently o. afiord cle The principle and: objects of'my inventi may bks'irfb 5 understood from the 1 desc d P atent'No. 1,536,163, of whichthe ntion is an "improvement, a con} f by $816, 59kb, 1 1

Fig. 2 is a similar section showing the mold open and the molded pulp board ready for removal.

The central feature of the apparatus is a mold. This may be constructed in the manner shown in the drawing in which 5 represents a channeled mold bed or bottom provided with apertures such as channels 6 to constitute drainage passages through which water may run 011' as it drains or is pressed through the pulp; gutters 7 may also be provided to catch such water as flows from the side of the mold bed.

The mold bed is provided also with a foraminous screen 8, which, in a manner well known in the art, permits water to drain therethrough without permitting the passage of pulp fibres. As will hereinafter be explained, this screen forms the means or a part of the means for withdrawing the sheet of wet pulp from the mold. The mold bed may be supported in a variety of ways as will be explainedhereinafter.

The deckle 9. may be constructed in any suitable manner, for. instance as described in the Patent No. 1,536,163 hereinahove referred to, and may be provided with suitable, inlets (shown in dotted lines). as shown and I plied into them old.

. The mold .top 'lllis', arranged to fit .slidably, h n hed l' ;fhil gP e ab1y su r und-1. m ne i ly s; l nd I. aid 1: am:v

of sna 1s embodying; the sam Such Trap-1 In." V n fix.

P y hlQh"-..-' J hedeeklelap n se ssureerted Fi -sect1ona2r rrant "e by tutu "fixealie'd "for raising an lowering the same. For instance, the means for raising and lowering the deckle may consist of cylinders 13, pistons 14 and piston rods 15, and suitable conduits 16 and 17 for permitting the inflow or escape of a fluid pressure medium. The fixed head 11 is slidably supported on the plurality of standards 18 whlch also support the cross-head 19, actuated by ahydraulic ram 20. The crosshead 19 carries on each side a bracket 21, each carrying rollers 22, 23 and 24 and also a roller 25 carried at the end of an adjustable bolt26. The conveyor, apron, or foraminous screen 8 is in the form of an endless belt encircling the mold bed and passes over rollers 22, 23 and 24, and is held in taut position by the roller and adjustable bolt 26. Driving arrangements may be attached to the rollers 22 to facilitate the movement of the apron 8. The upper face of the crosshead 19 is provided with bosses 27 between pairs of which the apron 8 is adapted to pass and the upper surfaces of which are adapted to contactwlth the lower surface of the mold bottom 5 as shown in Fig. 1.

'On the top of the crosshead 19, below the portion of the conveyor which lies below the mold bottom, and, between pairs of the bosses 27, is placed a rubber blanket 28. of a thickness between three-quarters of an inch and one and one-half inches, depending upon the frequency with which such blanket is subjected to pressure, and the amount of such pressure. The thicker the blanket, the less would be its elongation under the frequent and continued pressure to which it is subjected.

In order to prevent the metallic surface of the deckle 9 from injuring the delicate fabric of the fine, woven wire constituting the apron 8, wherever such surface may come in contact with the moving wire, I provide a soft rubber strip 29 on the surface of the deckle along such parts thereof which come in contact with the moving wire.

The mold bottom 5 is shown as supported by links 30 from the deckle 9 in such manner that the deckle may be raised for a distance sufiicient to clear the molded pulp. The mold bottom is not raised, but as the deckle is further raised, it carries the mold bottom with it so as to permit the portion of the apron 8, lying between the mold bottom and the crosshead, to move freely and out of contact with the mold bottom.

It will be noted that by means of the structure just outlined, I make possible the passing of the'continuous screen or apron 8 through the mold press, the return portion of the apron passing through an intermediate platen or mold bed supported from the deckle so as to provide an open space between said mold bed and deckle when the board is not being pressed. When the press is closed, and the board is under pressure,

-be raised for a distance the intermediate platen or mold bed is closed and becomes a part of the main adjacent platen or mold top. The intermediate platen thus provides an opening through which the return section of the endless belt passes through the press without such section of the belt coming in contact with the surface of the section of the belt in contact with the board. By. providing this method of return through the press itself instead of over the top of the mold bed or underneath the crosshead, a considerable saving in the construction costs of the press is effected.

A further feature of the improved apparatus is the provision of a cushion which is in contact with the wire whenever the wire itself and the platens are under pressure. In my improvedconstruction, both sections of the wire constituting the endless belt or apron are always in contact with a cushion, one layer being the pulp sheet and the other layer being the rubber blanket, thereby avoiding the friction and great wear which has been found to exist, due to the indented surfaces of the twowires rubbing together when being moved in reverse directions to each other, which rubbing of the indented surfaces greatly damages the delicate fabric of the finely woven wire.

While I have described a particular embodiment of my invention, it is obvious that various changes therein, particularly in the arrangement of the parts, may be made without departing from my invention. Thus the particular means shown and described of supporting the intermediate platen-from the deckle is intended for illustrative purposes only as it is obvious that arious means of suspending such platen from the deckle will occur to' those skilled in the art.

I claim:

1. An apparatus of the character described, having in combination a crosshead, .a mold top, and a mold bed, each movable relatively to the other, a foraminous conveyor located between said mold top and said crosshead and having its sect-ions separated by said mold bed and in contact with the upper surface thereof, and a deckle surrounding said mold top.

2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which the mold bed is supported from the deckle in such manner that the deckle may sufiicient to clear the molded pulp and further raised to carry the mold bed with it so as to permit the portion of the conveyor lying between the mold bed and the crosshead to move freely and out of contact with said mold bed.

3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 having ablanket of a resilient material, such as a rubber composit-ionor the like, on the top of the crosshead and below the portion of the conveyor which lies below the mold bed.

HAROLD C. HARVEY. 

